Mr George Redmond denied yesterday that as part of an agreement that Mr Michael Bailey would sell lands to Dublin County Council in Swords, north Co Dublin, for £30,000, he would waive an £18,500 levy on another development in Blanchardstown.
Mr Redmond said that Mr Bailey had agreed to sell nine acres of the land at Forest Road that the council wanted as a park and open space for £30,000 in June 1989 just four or five days before he retired.
The tribunal was told by Mr Patrick Hanratty SC, for the tribunal, that three months before, in March 1989, the land had been valued by Duffy Mangan Butler on behalf of the previous owner, Grafton Construction, part of the Murphy Group. They assessed it at £14,000 and said it had no development potential. However, the land was eventually sold for £39,000 in 1990 after it had been valued at that price by the Dublin County Council valuer.
Mr Redmond said that they wanted Mr Bailey to agree to sell them the nine acres to make it available to the council for the people of Swords. The only other way would have had to be by Compulsory Purchase Order.
Mr Bailey did not want to sell it as he was aware of the value of the land, Mr Redmond said. When Mr Bailey agreed to sell it was a great thrill. "I'd browbeaten him into selling the land," Mr Redmond stated. When the land was offered, Mr Bailey brought in the letter and he (Redmond) made a simple order the same day.
Mr Bailey had delivered the letter of offer by hand and Mr Redmond said that if he had not moved quickly, Mr Bailey might have changed his mind. He was overjoyed that the land was coming.
When asked by Mr Hanratty, Mr Redmond said he was not aware that Duffy Mangan Butler had assessed the land at £14,000. There was a third value by the Dublin County Council valuer who put it at £39,000, Mr Redmond said.
Asked if it was not unprecedented that it was treated with urgency all on the same day, Mr Redmond said it was an unprecedented offer. Why should he not complete it before he left?
Mr Hanratty then referred to a letter dated December 1st, 1989, between two council officials, in which one official said he was told by Mr Bailey that there was an outstanding condition for the sale.
There was an agreement between Mr Bailey and Mr Redmond, the official said in the letter, that a levy of £500 per house on 37 houses at a development at Mill Road, Blanchardstown, amounting to £18,500, was to be waived as part of the agreement to sell the land.
"I am absolutely certain I didn't. I couldn't have. It wasn't in my powers to waive a levy," said Mr Redmond.